International records / OpenAlex research

The New Nigeria

Debates about constitutional, ethnic, and religious questions are the substance out of which a nation is built. In Nigeria the policy of creating states has allowed these debates to contribute to creating a sense of inclusive pluralist nationalism. Recently, however, the state has abandoned its role as national arbiter and these issues have become fault-lines in a winner-take-all struggle over power. Debates that build the nation have been abandoned in favor of oppressive policies and authoritarian rule.